Passing blood

For the past week or so, my boyfriend has been passing blood when he uses the restroom.  He had digestive problems as a child, but it hasn't bothered him for about 15 years or more.  I'm concered as to what this could mean.  I know it's serious, but I don't know how serious. Could anyone help me??

[Wilson]

It could be an internal hemorrhoid, colitis, or something else. It's not necessarily something terribly serious, but it should be checked out if it doesn't subside. There are lots of threads on this forum dealing with this subject, so you can see it's a fairly common problem.

[katey]

is the blood red??  its probably nothing.  how old is he??  if the blood is bright red then it is more then likely hemmorhoids, or a fissure.  is the blood mixed through the stool, or on the toilet paper afterwards.  if its mixed in the stool, that is more cause for concern because that means he's bleeding up further then a hemmorhoids would show.